CARDIN, HASTINGS TO LEAD CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO BALKANS, BALTICS

WASHINGTON--Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), will lead a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania and Belarus June 26 to July 3, 2009.

The delegation will hold a series of meetings with government leaders and civil society representatives in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – focusing on international cooperation and supporting the reforms needed to allow Bosnia to join the European Union.

The stop in Minsk, Belarus, will mark the highest level Congressional delegation to Belarus in more than a decade.

The delegation will attend the 18th Annual Session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Vilnius, focusing on the theme ‘The OSCE: Addressing New Security Challenges.’ Members will debate and vote on a range of issues including security in Afghanistan, the economic crisis, climate change, energy, water, and human rights and democratic development. The resolutions passed become the final Vilnius Declaration – helping to steer the direction of the OSCE.